Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32150212›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of frailty & aging2020

Obesity Definitions in Sarcopenic Obesity: Differences in Prevalence, Agreement and Association with Muscle Function.

E Q Khor, J P Lim, L Tay, A Yeo, S Yew, Y Y Ding, W S Lim

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of frailty & aging, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.5field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Evaluation of Sarcopenic Obesity in Patients with MASLD.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

E Q KhorEzra Qi-En Khor, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Email address: khor0040@e.ntu.edu.sg, Telephone number: +65 63596474.
J P Lim
L Tay
A Yeo
S Yew
Y Y Ding
W S Lim
Tan Tock Seng Hospital · SGNanyang Technological University · SGSengkang General Hospital · SG

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSarcopenic obesity (SO) is associated with poorer physical performance in the elderly and will increase in relevance with population ageing and the obesity epidemic. The lack of a consensus definition for SO has resulted in variability in its reported prevalence, poor inter-definitional agreement, and disagreement on its impact on physical performance, impeding further development in the field. While sarcopenia definitions have been compared, the impact of obesity definitions in SO has been less well-studied.

objectivesTo compare 3 widely-adopted definitions of obesity in terms of SO prevalence, inter-definitional agreement, and association with muscle function.

designCross-sectional.

settingGERILABS study, Singapore Participants: 200 community-dwelling, functionally-independent older adults. MEASUREMENTS: We utilized three commonly-used definitions of obesity: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and DXA-derived fat mass percentage (FM%). Sarcopenia was defined using Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia criteria. For muscle function, we assessed handgrip strength, gait speed and Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). Subjects were classified into 4 body composition phenotypes (normal, obese, sarcopenic and SO), and outcomes were compared between groups.

resultsThe prevalence rate for SO was lowest for BMI (0.5%) compared to FM% (10.0%) and WC (10.5%). Inter-definitional agreement was lowest between BMI and WC (κ=0.364), and at best moderate between FM% and WC (κ=0.583). SO performed the worst amongst body composition phenotypes in handgrip strength, gait speed and SPPB (all p<0.01) only when defined using WC. In regression analyses, SO was associated with decreased SPPB scores (β=-0.261, p=0.001) only for the WC definition.

conclusionThere is large variation in the prevalence of SO across different obesity definitions, with low-to-moderate agreement between them. Our results corroborate recent evidence that WC, and thus central obesity, is best associated with poorer muscle function in SO. Thus, WC should be further explored in defining obesity for accurate and early characterization of SO among older adults in Asian populations.

Indexed as

ObesitySarcopeniaTerminology as TopicAgedCross-Sectional StudiesHumansMuscle StrengthPrevalenceReproducibility of Resultsagreementdefinitionmuscle functionSarcopenic obesitywaist circumference

Identifiers

PMID32150212
PMCPMC12275721
OpenAlexW2969059001

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.